Eitan AFV

Israel's first heavy 8×8 wheeled armored personnel carrier — a high-mobility, Iron Fist APS-protected vehicle designed to replace the aging M113 in IDF service and field an IFV variant, all battle-tested in Gaza since October 2023.

Overview

The Eitan (Hebrew: אֵיתָן, "steadfast") is an 8×8 wheeled armored fighting vehicle developed by the Israeli Ministry of Defense’s Merkava and Armoured Vehicles Directorate (MANTAK). It introduces a high-mobility wheeled platform to the IDF’s traditionally tracked-heavy APC fleet, carrying a full infantry squad at road speeds up to 90 km/h without requiring tank transporters. The in-service APC variant is armed with a 12.7 mm Samson RCWS and protected by the Iron Fist Light Decoupled active protection system; a planned infantry fighting vehicle variant with a 30 mm or 40 mm cannon turret and Spike anti-tank missiles is still in development. Wikipedia notes the first operational vehicles were delivered to the Nahal Brigade in May 2023.

Development

The Eitan program grew out of an IDF Ground Forces requirement articulated in the early 2010s to replace the tracked M113 APC with a wheeled platform offering superior road speed and reduced logistics footprint. MANTAK began design work around 2012–2015, and the first prototype was unveiled by the Ministry of Defense on 1 August 2016. At that ceremony, Brigadier General Baruch Matzliah stated the Eitan would complement the heavy Namer and cost roughly half as much. Army Technology details how the vehicle progressed through engineering development and was subsequently selected for the Iron Fist Light Decoupled (IFLD) active protection system in August 2019, beating out the Rafael Trophy.

The Ministry of Defense announced serial production in February 2020. A major industrial milestone arrived in December 2022, when Oshkosh Defense was named hull manufacturer. The resulting contract, signed in January–February 2023 and valued at over $100 million, covers hundreds of bare hulls and is financed through U.S. Foreign Military Financing aid. Israel Defense confirmed the formal procurement agreement, and the first operational APCs were handed over to the Nahal Brigade on 31 May 2023.

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